LONG BEACH -
The second-ranked and third-seeded Long Beach State men's volleyball team swept No. 6 Stanford in an MPSF quarterfinal match Saturday at the Walter Pyramid. Set scores were 25-21, 25-17, 30-28.

With the win, LBSU (23-7) advances to the semifinals for the second time in the last three years. It will face second-seeded UC Irvine, which edged No. 7 UC Santa Barbara in five sets. Top-ranked BYU will be the host for the MPSF semifinals and finals as it defeated eighth-seeded Hawai'i, 3-2.

Junior Connor Olbright directed the offense to .309 hitting with 39 assists. Long Beach State has now hit .300 or better in 15 matches.

The first set started as a back-and-forth affair with four ties before LBSU scored four unanswered to pull ahead, 8-4. The 49ers stayed out front and went up by five before the Cardinal came back within one at 14-13. After Long Beach State called a timeout, it proceeded to go on a 5-1 run, capped by a double block from Gregory and Olbright, to go on top, 19-14. Stanford would close the gap to two, but the home team finished strong as back-to-back kills from Crabb and Echave gave them the 25-21 victory.

The Cardinal (15-13) took an early 3-1 lead in set two, but LBSU quickly went up 4-3 following consecutive kills from Crabb. The two teams then traded points before the 49ers scored six-straight to hold a 12-6 advantage. The Cardinal never really threatened from there as Long Beach State went up by as many as 10 and cruised to the 25-17 win.

LBSU outlasted Stanford in the third frame, holding off four set points to win the marathon battle, 30-28. The 49ers pulled ahead 12-8 on an Ammerman kill and led until the Cardinal tied it up at 17-17. Long Beach State then made another push with a 4-0 run, which ended with an ace from Satterfield, to go on top, 21-17. The visitors responded once again, evening the score at 21-21 and eventually taking a 24-23 lead. Satterfield then had a key kill to make it 24-24 and it went back-and-forth until LBSU prevailed, 30-28, on a Stanford hitting error.

Steven Irvin led the Cardinal with a match-high 17 kills, while Brian Cook had 14.

Long Beach State will face UC Irvine in the MPSF semifinals in Provo, Utah, on Thursday, April 25. First serve is set for 4 p.m. (PDT).